Refrigerator car floor rack



' Patented Jan; 30, 1940 OFFICE 1 REFRIGERATOR GARFLOOR RACK Garth G. Gilpin, Riverside', 111;, assignor'to standard" Railway Equipment Manufacturing'Oomv pany, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application April 19, 1939 ,,Serial .No;-{ 268,142 y p Claims. (01.105-375) The invention relates to insulated refrigerator cars used to transport perishable commodities,

such as vegetables, fruits, berries, meats, eggs,

frozen fish, etc, and to maintainsuch commodi- 5 ties while in transit within a predetermined range of temperature, thus necessitating the use of a refrigerant in the summer and a heating means in the winter. It has been found that perishable commodities which have not been allowed to get too cold (freeze) or too hot (bake) have a high market value because they have a longer storage life.

' The inventionfrelates specific lly to .fioor racks for such refrigerator cars which comprise a foraminous or perforated floor, arranged to support the lading in the car in spaced relation to the insulated floor of the car so that air, after it has been cooled by a refrigerant, or heated by a heater, may pass under the lading and through the lading.

, Recent impovement's in refrigerator car design have resulted in the use of the so-called top bunker car. Cars of this type have the refrigerfrom therefrigerant containers to the space under the floor rack.

to prevent or retard movement of the lading dur-' ing service movements of the car. Service move- 1 I ments are defined as the accelerating, deceler ating and sudden starting and stopping to which a railway car is subjected during ordinary operwill be apparent from the following detailed description'taken in reference to the drawing in inwhich:

Figs. 1 and. -2 are transverse and longitudinal sections respectively of a refrigerator car em} bodying my invention. I

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of my fioor rack. In the refrigerator car shown in Figs. 1 and 2,

"the essential parts shown are-roof 2, side-walls '3,

end wall 4, floor -5, refrigerant containers 6, fiu'es 1;associated with the side walls 3, hatches 8 and of the car.

theforaminous floor and up through or between ant containers suspended below the roof and are commonly provided with fiues associated with the side walls. These flues conduct refrigerated air An object of the invention is to provide means,

floor rack 9. The lading is shown in brokenlines Ill. The arrows ll show the path followed by the refrigerated air fromthe containers 6 downwardly through the lines I, under the rack 9 and thence upwardly through the lading com'part- Y ment. 7

- The floor rack 9 comprises a plurality of spaced apart slats 20 extending laterallyof the car.

The slats 20 are supported by a plurality of spaced apart slats 2| extending longitudinally The slats 2B, 2l-are supportedby laterally disposed stringers 2 3. The stringers 23 divide the space under the rack 9 into a plurality of ducts 25 extending transversely of the car and communicating with the flues I. Cold air from v the flues 7 may then flow through the ducts 25,

the spaces between the slats 2| and the spaces I between the slats 20 to thelading compartment of the car. The edges 21 of the slats 29 offer resistance to movement of the lading longitudinally of the car, thus retarding shifting ofthe lading due to service movements of the car.

The accompanying drawing illustrates the preferredform of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim: a 1. In a refrigerator car, the combination of a foraminous rack forsupporting a lading above the floor and means associated'with the side walls of the car to induce an air current in the space below said rack; said rack comprising means. to divide said space into a plurality of ducts communica'ting with said first mentioned means, and

spaced apart slats extending transversely. of the a car to retard movement of the lading toward the end walls'of the car.

2. In a refrigerator car, the combination of a foraminous rack for supporting a lading above the floor and means associated with the side walls of the car to induce an air current in thespace below said rack, said rack comprising means to divide said space into a plurality of ducts communicating with said first mentioned means and extending transversely of the car, and spaced ,l apart slats also extending transversely of the car to retard movement of the lading toward the end walls of the car.

3. In a refrigerator car, the combination of a foraminousrack .for supporting a lading above the floor and means associated with the side walls of the car to induce an air current in the space j w I 2,188,860 7 I 5. In a refrigerator car, the combination 01a below said rack, said rack comprising transversely disposed spaced apart stringers which divide,

said space into a plurality of ducts communicating with said means, and spaced apart slats also extending transversely of the car to retard movement of the lading toward the end walls of the car.

4. Ina refrigerator car, the combination of a foraminous rack forsupporting a lading above the floor and means associated with the side walls of the car to induce an air current in the space below said rack, said rack comprising transversely disposed spaced apart stringers walls of the car, and means to support said slats 'I upon said stringers.

foraminous rack for supporting a lading above the floor and means associated with the side walls of the car to induce an air current in the space below said rack, said rack comprising transversely disposed spaced apart stringers which also extending transversely of the car to retard movement of the lading toward the end walls ofthe car, and means to support saidfslats upon i said stringers, said last mentioned means comprising spaced apart slats supported by said I stringers and extending transversely thereto and to said first mentioned slats.

GARTH 6.0mme 

